Piezoelectricity in macromolecule polymers has been gaining immense attention, particularly for applications in biocompatible, implantable, and flexible electronic devices. This paper introduces core-shell-structured piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers chemically wrapped… Click to show full abstract
Piezoelectricity in macromolecule polymers has been gaining immense attention, particularly for applications in biocompatible, implantable, and flexible electronic devices. This paper introduces core-shell-structured piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers chemically wrapped by graphene oxide (GO) lamellae (PVDF/GO nanofibers), in which the polar β-phase nanocrystals are formed and uniaxially self-oriented by the synergistic effect of mechanical stretching, high-voltage alignment, and chemical interactions. The β-phase orientation of the PVDF/GO nanofibers along their axes is observed at atomic scale through high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the β-phase content is found to be 88.5%. The piezoelectric properties of the PVDF/GO nanofibers are investigated in terms of piezoresponse mapping, local hysteresis loops, and polarization reversal by advanced piezoresponse force microscopy. The PVDF/GO nanofibers show a desirable out-of-plane piezoelectric constant (d33) of -93.75 pm V-1 (at 1.0 wt % GO addition), which is 426% higher than that of the conventional pure PVDF nanofibers. The mechanism behind this dramatic enhancement in piezoelectricity is elucidated by three-dimensional molecular modeling.
               
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